A New Life
by UsualGeneration
Summary: Jack, Miko and Raf are turned into Cybertronian sparklings. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Transformation

It was the weekend much to Ratchet's dismay. It meant that the humans were around, and of course they would find a way to disrupt his silence and his work as they always did. But this was a strange one, and if it was just a stupid way to bug him then he didn't find it funny in the slightest. It was a sick joke in his opinion.

"Jack! Miko! Raf! Come out right now!" he called throughout the base earning himself some odd looks from his Autobot companions.

"What's going on with the kids, Ratch?" Bulkhead asked.

Ratchet shot him a sharp look and placed his finger to his lip plating as a silent way of telling him to shut up. The medic was trying to listen for any of the children and if they'd accidentally give away their position. There was no giggling or whispering, no signs of tiny feet running or shuffling around at the call of their names. Nothing.

Ratchet scoffed and turned back to where he had found this prank that the humans had set up.

"Pesky humans, I didn't even know they knew about this aspect of Cybertronian life," he mumbled to himself but loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"What is it that they have done, Ratchet?" came the rumbling voice of Optimus who was typing away on a computer terminal.

The medic turned around to look at his leader and caught the enquiring and curious gazes of Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead too. He sighed realising that this probably wasn't a prank and he might have a spark attack pretty soon. Oh boy.

"At this point, I don't think I can even explain what they've done. Just come and see, quickly and quietly," he sighed rubbing a hand down his face plates.

Together the four warriors followed their medic to where the children had conducted their prank and found none other than three sleeping sparklings. Three sleeping sparklings that were incredibly cute. A teal blue and grey mechling, a black femmeling with streaks of pink that only showed if they caught the light, and a small orange and white mechling.

There were audible gasps, a little squeal from Arcee and mumbling and then everyone went silent as they realised the situation.

"So… are they real?" Bumblebee kneeled down and poked one of the sparklings that looked suspiciously like Raf.

Needless to say, the scout got his answer as the sparkling's blue optics immediately shot open. It smiled and begun making little clicking and squeaking noises.

"Hey Bee, sorry I didn't know I'd even fallen asleep," Raf laughed slightly as he attempted to lift his body into a sitting position having noticed he was surrounded by all of the bots.

But something was wrong. Very wrong in fact. His body felt so heavy and it was an extremely scary feeling.

"Bee?" Raf whimpered. He was beginning to panic, and his "eyes" quickly begun to fill with tears.

"No crying, you're okay," Ratchet said softly as he took over from the scout. He gently picked up the teary sparkling and cradled him to his chest.

Raf hiccupped a little bit but calmed down immediately, his little body registered Ratchet's spark in close proximity to his and it was a weird feeling to the once young boy. But all of this was wrong. Something had happened and all he had to do to find out what had occurred was turn his head to look at his friends and then down at himself.

No sound left him, and he froze up allowing shock to completely override him.

"Hold on a fragging minute, you're not telling me these sparklings are Jack, Miko and Raf,"

Arcee raised an eyebrow at Ratchet and placed a hand on her hip.

"Who else would they be?" Bulkhead responded as he watched Optimus carefully pick up the other two sparklings, supposedly Jack and Miko, and cradle them.

"Ratchet, what could have caused this?" Prime enquired keeping his voice low so he didn't disturb the sleeping sparklings in his arms.

"Honestly, I have not the faintest of ideas. This should never have been able to happen in the first place," Ratchet sighed.

Ratchet hated weekends.

* * *

The three sparklings had been passed around the Autobots as everyone was very eager to see them after years of not seeing any due to the all spark not being around and, you know, the destruction of their planet.

During this, Miko and Jack had woken up and were very confused to say the least.

"What's happening?" Miko had whispered.

"I don't know," Jack whispered in response. His face was scrunched into a position that screamed that he didn't know what to do with himself at this moment in time.

And that's where everything blew up. Miko had whipped her head around to face the direction Jack's voice had come from and had obviously noticed that he was in fact a robot baby and he was being cradled lovingly by Arcee. She had slowly turned her head away and told herself she was tripping balls on acid, this was not real.

She'd almost screamed when she looked down at her body and realised that she too was a robot baby, but she was in the arms of Bulkhead who gave her a rather uncomfortable smile when she looked up at him with wide optics.

"Oh Kami, I should've believed those stories about after effects…" she groaned.

"Miko, I don't think that's it," Raf had stuttered.

Raf was the smart one, so he must be right… right?

She looked at him and _oh, what a surprise, _he's being hugged by Bumblebee and _wow look at that, _he's a robot baby too. That was all the confirmation she needed to have a complete meltdown in Bulkhead's arms.

"Miko, it's okay," Bulkhead had no clue what to do with the panicking sparkling but luckily for him Ratchet had stepped in and taken her from him.

Miko found herself held to Ratchet's chest as he stroked the back of her head. She calmed down slowly but still had tears streaming out of her beautiful golden optics and down her face. Bulkhead, Arcee, Optimus and Bumblebee looked at her with warm expressions seeing that she had begun to feel much better from Ratchet's quick thinking.

Arcee smirked slightly at the idea of Ratchet passing out if she ever told him that right now, he looked like a loving grandparent.

Raf had already gotten over the shock of it but it didn't mean he wasn't worried. So Miko's outburst made him think that this situation was definitely more serious that he'd first thought it to be. After all, they'd completely changed species.

Jack just lay there in Arcee's arms, blue optics wide. And then he started shaking uncontrollably. He was having a panic attack and he didn't know what to do. Everything was going blurry, he felt sick and he was extremely uncomfortable in his body.

"Jack?!" Arcee was about to start panicking alongside the sparklings but luckily for her Ratchet was about to swoop in and save another sparkling with his loving grandparent powers.

"Optimus, take Miko," Ratchet quickly passed over the sparkling as he ran over to Jack to see if he was okay.

Soon enough, everyone had calmed down and Ratchet was finally able to give the sparklings a full medical examination. Overall, they were very healthy and seemed to be overcoming their earlier moods. The idea that Jack, Miko and Raf still had their normal minds didn't even occur to Ratchet. He simply thought that they were acting normally for young sparklings that didn't have their creators nearby.

Unfortunately for Ratchet, Miko was getting impatient and started to kick up a fuss over being held to a medical berth and scanned multiple times. It got incredibly boring after a while and her little sparkling body alongside her possible ADHD willed her to continuously move until the bots gave up and let her run around… or crawl.

Thus, the medic was forced to put Miko down on the floor so that she could crawl around, and surprisingly she was quite fast. Optimus kept an optic on the speedy sparkling, apparently intrigued by the sparkling version of Miko.

"So, if Miko can actually move around, how old do you reckon they are?" Bulkhead asked the medic.

"I can't be precisely sure, but my guess is Jack and Miko are both around 1 vorn whilst Raf is about half a vorn. Still fairly young but not newborns," he trailed off.

"So, who's gonna look after them?" Bumblebee asked capturing the attention of Optimus.

"Dibs on Miko!"

"Jack's mine!"

"I want Raf"

Ratchet smirked at the original guardians and their enthusiastic requests for their charges but knew that Optimus was about to propose something completely different. He's known Optimus the longest after all, and Ratchet knew that his leader would end up being quite possessive over these sparklings.

"I do not believe it would be the most appropriate decision for the sparklings to be separated on their first night," Optimus began.

'_Here he goes…' _Ratchet rolled his optics.

"I believe the best option for them would be for them to stay with either Ratchet or myself for tonight so we can check up on them regularly," he explained.

The medic instantly scoffed at this and waved a hand dismissively

"They're all yours, Optimus. I don't particularly want to be woken up from my recharge after the events today," Ratchet explained, "and on that note, goodnight."

The four Autobots and the three sparklings watched as Ratchet trailed off to his quarters after announcing he was retiring for the night.

"Well, I think what you're saying is reasonable, Optimus. Do you want me to bring Jack to your quarters or…?"

"Yeah, I think Raf would be happier with Jack and Miko tonight… he seemed really scared earlier," Bee's doorwings drooped slightly.

"I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if I could even get Miko to go into recharge…"

Optimus nodded at his soldiers and had them pass Jack and Raf over to him so he could gently hold them alongside Miko.

"Alright, I'll do monitor duty tonight then," Arcee volunteered to which Optimus gave a slight nod of thanks and approval.

With that, everyone had bid each other goodnight and made their way to their individual quarters.

Optimus was in luck, the sparklings had fallen asleep in his arms so going to his quarters and putting them to berth was the easiest thing he had done in a while. He laid them in his berth and pulled a warm cover over them before joining them on his berth. The Prime gave them one last look to make sure they were definitely settled and then allowed himself to slip into recharge.

That lasted about five minutes. The leader felt shuffling next to him and then some small squeaks indicating that two of them were awake. He opened his optics just on time to get front seats to a sparkling MMA match.

"You're so stuck up, Jack!" Miko shouted angrily as she pushed him away from her.

"Hey!" Jack's optics widened as he tumbled off of Optimus' berth.

Now, for a sparkling it was quite a high drop and Optimus felt his spark leap in its chamber when he saw Jack get dropped. He was going to grab him, honestly, he was, but Raf had been woken up by Jack's screech and had let out an annoyed shout in response which acted as an effective way to temporarily divert the Prime's attention from the falling sparkling. And thus, Jack landed on his little robot butt.

Everyone in the room was silent and Optimus got up from his berth and quickly scooped up Jack before he could start crying. He was placed against a big red shoulder and currently had a large hand rubbing his back to comfort him.

"Little one…" Optimus rumbled, not really knowing what to say as he sat down on his berth.

"Jack, are you okay?" Raf squeaked nervously.

Jack didn't answer. Not because he was upset, but because he was definitely, absolutely, 100% furious and it didn't help when Miko took one look at him and began laughing her aft off.

"That's what you get for trying to play your sneaky little 'I know better than you' card!" she taunted.

Again, no answer from Jack. The little dude just lay there against the Autobot leader's shoulder and frowned hardcore.

"Miko," Optimus began, "you are not to push other people. And you most definitely do not laugh at them when they are hurt."

The femmeling looked Optimus dead in the optic for a couple seconds and Raf winced knowing what would follow as he'd seen her do it to the teachers at their school when she got in trouble. In fact, he'd almost fallen back from his sitting position, it was actually quite difficult balancing himself, but he was just about managing.

She laughed straight in his face even as the Prime's face remained in a completely unimpressed expression.

"Dude, he just fell. It's really not that big a deal," she was almost in tears at this point and didn't notice Optimus sit Jack back down on the berth.

Miko continued to laugh even as she was then picked up by the Prime, apparently, she hadn't realised yet and it only really hit home when she was held up to his face where he completely stared her down.

Optimus admittedly felt really strange about doing this to a sparkling, but he didn't know what else to do. Miko seemed to be a sparkling that would easily get herself into trouble and he wanted to nip this in the bud as soon as possible. Yes, she was cheeky and energetic as a human child, but this sparkling behaviour was on another level; he had never seen her raise a hand against her friends and this really got to him. He had wanted to have a positive influence on the children when they were humans, but now that they were sparklings he planned on doing that and more as he decided he would take more of a sire role whilst they were sparklings. The Prime really wanted to guide and nurture these young sparks, so he was quick to sort Miko out.

Miko soon stopped laughing and looked Optimus in the optics and shuffled awkwardly in his grip as if she'd just realised that she was actually in trouble for pushing Jack. She gave in and averted her optics from the Prime guiltily which resulted in him sitting her in the crook of one of his arms.

"Jack is your friend, Miko, and a close one at that. You do not harm him, or anyone for that matter, you must appreciate that you have friends of this nature," he rumbled softly to her.

"Of course, it's my fault," she muttered, "everyone loves Jack, he's a goodie-two-shoes."

"That goes for you both as well, Jack and Raf."

They squeaked and squealed in response, but Optimus got nothing from Miko. He looked down to where he had her in his arms and noticed the annoyed scowl on her face, and it was aimed directly at Jack. Optimus exhaled, sparkling Miko was just as stubborn as human Miko.

"What were you two fighting about anyway?" he asked quietly, it was more to himself rather than aimed at the sparklings because naturally, they couldn't speak.

"That's actually a pretty good question," Raf said nervously. He'd never seen his friends like this, and it worried him. Was it being turned into sparklings that was impacting them or was there some form of tension he hadn't been aware of prior to this?

Whatever it was, he didn't like it and he highly doubted there was tension before this happened. The youngest frowned, what if this was the transformation that was affecting them and making them more childlike?

He quickly shook the thought from his head and looked at his friends as he waited patiently for an answer from them.

"I asked Miko what she was doing before we all woke up like this," Jack said coldly.

"Oh…" Raf understood.

Jack had immediately gone to blame Miko for the situation and she had in turn given a knee jerk reaction to his accusations.

"Right, and I reminded Jack that he's not as amazing as he thinks he is. You're too caught up on the idea that you're like the librarian version of Optimus," she huffed.

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

"We're all good though right, guys? We'll get through this together, it won't be long until Ratchet finds a way to turn us back to normal," Raf tried.

"I guess so," came a tired response from Jack.

"I believe it is time for recharge now, little ones," Prime said gently as he watched Raf let out a little yawn.

And boom, they were all back in their original positions again before Jack and Miko had woken up. The Prime subconsciously knew that this was the three sparklings' first night with him and he was prepared for any outbursts as they weren't with their creators.

Miko was sprawled out comfortably on his chest, Raf was curled into his side and Jack lay next to him as if trying to declare independence and that he was in fact a big boy. He soon joined them in recharge.

* * *

About four hours later, Optimus was awoken by a sparkling squeaking in his audio receptors and patting his helm. He online his optics and saw the youngest sparkling sucking his thumb. Quickly, he glanced at Jack and Miko and was relieved to see they were still deep in recharge.

Optimus was no sparkling whisperer but from the way the sparkling was sucking his thumb, something told him that it was because he was hungry.

Begrudgingly, he began to get up from his berth by carefully manoeuvring Miko off of his chest and next to Jack and the he took Raf into his arms and stood up. The big bot looked at the two sparklings still asleep on his berth and deemed it would be okay to leave them for a couple of minutes to quickly get some sparkling grade energon for Raf and so he left his quarters and set out towards the energon storage vault with Raf held against his chest.

Unfortunately for him, Jack and Miko had been woken up by his heavy footsteps and the sound of his door opening and closing. They were both shocked and relieved to find that Optimus wasn't around, they'd gathered that he must have taken Raf with him too.

"Look, Miko. I'm sorry about earlier, really I am," he looked at her with soft optics.

"Apology accepted," she rolled her optics, "and I guess I'm sorry for pushing you off the bed."

"Apology accepted," he gave a slight nod of acceptance.

And suddenly energetic, bouncy Miko had returned.

"So, what're we gonna do whilst Boss Bot is away?" she grinned.

"Uh, stay put?" Jack smiled knowing that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"When are we ever in his quarters? I wonder if he does actually have a sock drawer, or maybe he has a picture of someone he has a crush on somewhere… if it's Ratchet, I will actually throw myself off a cliff," she laughed.

"Ouch that was harsh," Jack joined her laughter.

"Oh my god what if it's Arcee?"

"Ew, stop it," Jack cringed at the thought of his partner and Optimus practically eating each other's faces, "definitely wouldn't be Bumblebee, so what if it's Bulkhead?"

They both had tears leaking from their optics at that one.

"Oh man," Miko wiped tears from her face and allowed herself to take a breather before beginning to climb off the berth.

Jack followed her and once they were off of it, the first thing they noticed that by the side of the berth was a pot of grease. Aw, Optimus was trying to avoid his old gears from getting all squeaky. Cute.

Without any warning, Jack crawled towards the large pot of grease and began trying to pull it open. Miko smirked and then crawled over to help her friend pull the cap off, and once they had the fun would commence.

"Right, so I have this insane idea," Miko began excitedly, her golden optics flashing mischievously.

"Go on," Jack encouraged just as excited as she was.

"Let's smear this all over the berth and turn it into a slip and slide, but here's the catch; we have to try and push the other person off the edge of the berth, last person standing wins," she was practically vibrating with excitement and Jack couldn't find it in him to say no even though he knew precisely what it felt like to be dropped off of that berth.

What did he have to lose? This sounded incredibly fun and his friend had just provided him with an opportunity to get his revenge on her.

"I'm in," he grinned.

Both of them managed to climb back up onto the berth with the large pot and began their mission of smearing it all over poor Optimus' berth.

Meanwhile, Optimus had gotten Raf some energon, put it in a cute little sparkling bottle and was on his way back to his quarters. The youngest of the three sparklings was cradled comfortably in the Prime's strong arms and was falling back into recharge as Optimus fed him. The combination of being held, rocked from Optimus walking and food, he was ready to fall into a great sleep.

But somehow, he'd found himself being pulled out of this comfort by Ratchet and didn't know why. He thought he was going back to Jack and Miko with Optimus but apparently the big bot had other plans. Little did he know that he'd napped through Optimus stepping back into his quarters to find Jack and Miko wide awake and sliding around in grease all over his berth.

The red and blue bot had deposited him with Ratchet after apologising for waking him and briefly explained why he needed the old medic to watch over Raf. It was because he had two messy sparklings and his berth to clean up, for spark's sake. He wanted nothing more than to go back into recharge but these sparklings were dead set on him not getting there.

He'd walked back into his quarters with both arms completely free and got ready to react quickly as both sparklings stopped giggling and froze when they saw him. Optimus knew they'd try to bolt so he managed to scoop them both up as they tried crawling away.

As he carried the squeaking, wiggling duo towards the wash racks, he noted that it was exceptionally difficult to keep a hold on two sparklings covered from helm to pede in grease.

"Sparklings, why must you be so difficult?" he sighed tiredly as he placed them into a sink and began running warm water into it.

Exhausted, the mech began to gently massage them with soap and water in an attempt to strip the layers of grease off of them and this had the effect of cleaning them and putting them to sleep again.

Soon enough Jack was sat in the sink yawning and struggling to keep his optics open, and Miko was flopped over Optimus' servo as he rubbed at her back. Optimus sighed in relief at how quickly they had gone into recharge and thanked Primus that at least he could just dry them, drop some solution on her berth and then go into recharge himself. Oh boy, had it been a long night for the poor dude.

The sparklings stayed asleep as Optimus lifted them out of the sink and into a warm towel to dry them both and as he walked back to his room and held them whilst he wiped his berth down with cleaning solution to get the grease off easier.

Eventually, the red and blue bot was able to land his tired frame into his berth with Jack and Miko held against him.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the rewrite. I feel like I'm actually back on board with writing again, and this time yaboi knows where this will be going… yup that's right, old version didn't actually have a main storyline.

Also, I wanted to clarify that I'm not "ship shaming" (is that what it's called?) or anything like that in this chapter (since I've heard people tend to get touchy about that in this community). It was purely Jack and Miko having a laugh about their beloved robot buddies doing adult robot things lmao.

Anyways, the second chapter will be posted soon. Until then, have a good one

P.S: I'm looking for a beta reader. PM me if you're interested!


	2. Flier, Genius, Edgelord

Optimus woke up the next morning to little servos gently patting his faceplates. His optics opened slowly, and he gave a little smile to the sparkling version of Miko as her bright golden optics stared at him.

"Good morning, Miko," Optimus said softly as he sat up, moving Miko from her position on his chest to his lap.

"Yeah, morning," she said dismissively, "I'm really hungry, dude! Like 'I'm gonna die' hungry!"

"Ugh. Agreed, I feel like my stomach is collapsing in on itself," Jack groaned from his position next to Optimus and Miko where he was spread out in a starfish position.

"And good morning to you too, Jack," Optimus responded to his squeaking.

"Can we get food now?" the boy asked.

Of course, Optimus couldn't understand what they were saying as their words only came out as squeaks to anyone that wasn't them apparently. Miko and Jack had caught onto this and looked to each other to try and collaborate and brainstorm ideas to make him realise what they were trying to say.

"We could start screaming so they panic and try everything they think we might want?" Miko suggested with a grin.

"Huh, I don't know about that one," Jack thought, "don't we get stomachs that make noises when we're hungry anymore? Ah scrap, I don't know anything about Cybertronian biology…"

"Can we please stay on topic? I just wanna eat and big OP needs to know," she huffed in response to her friend.

"Yeah sorry," Jack began to think and suddenly his optics widened catching Miko's attention.

"What? What's the plan?" Miko asked excitedly and she bounced closer to her friend ready to be briefed.

Optimus said nothing during this and simply watched the exchange between the sparklings with a happy smile on his face, not knowing that they were actually communicating. Oh well, blissful ignorance, right?

"You're not gonna like it and you probably won't do it…" the blue opticed sparkling responded sounding slightly embarrassed.

"Spit it out, dude."

Jack closed his optics and exhaled as he rubbed the back of his metallic neck before crawling onto Optimus' lap beside Miko and grabbed Optimus' index finger and attempted to shove it in his mouth.

The Prime raised an optic at this and Miko looked at her friend with pure disgust, not really knowing what to say or do.

"What is wrong, Jack?" the Prime enquired, genuinely confused at what the sparkling wanted.

"I think the real question is 'what is wrong with you', Jack?" Miko scoffed unimpressed.

"Why don't we get you both something more appropriate to eat, little ones?" Prime gave a small but warm smile.

"Thank me later," the mechling smirked at her.

Miko said nothing as she and her friend were lifted into strong, red arms. She couldn't believe that had actually worked. But oh well, they were going to get fed and then she could probably go dune bashing with Bulkhead or something, so she wasn't complaining in the slightest.

Optimus exited his quarters with the two hungry sparklings and headed towards the main room within their base. Once he arrived, he was met with the sight of Ratchet already feeding Raf whilst everyone else either refuelled or checked the monitors for any signs of Decepticon activity or energon mines.

"Optimus," Ratchet greeted, "there is energon for both of them on the medical berth, they'll be hungry."

"Thank you, old friend."

"Do you want me to take Jack off your hands, I can't imagine it'll be easy feeding both at the same time?" Arcee came over to him.

Optimus didn't have time to answer as Jack instantly reached out to her and squeaked.

"Way to go, Bulk," Miko frowned, "why can't I have the guardian that jumps up at the sight of me?"

Optimus hadn't done anything wrong and she could solidly say she loved the Boss Bot just as much as she loved the rest of the other Autobots. But Bulkhead was infinitely more fun than Optimus, and although she had only been with him throughout the night, she felt she definitely had the right to say she'd had enough of the calm, uniform responses he gave.

Miko and Jack found themselves cradled in their bots' arms and had a bottle of warm sparkling grade energon being fed to them.

"I don't think anything has ever tasted as good as this…" Jack said as he slipped into a daze, "kinda tastes like swiss chocolate but… better!"

"Mhm," Miko couldn't respond properly as she was busy stuffing her face.

"Miko, calm down," Optimus pulled the bottle back, "you will choke if you continue on the way you are."

Miko pulled the bottle back down to her and the Prime couldn't help but smile at the sparkling in his arms. And at that point, Miko knew that he was the good cop in her robot family, he was the type of family member that probably wouldn't bat an eyelid at minor behaviours but would step in for something they deemed more serious. 'Perfect' she thought with a grin.

Said sparkling's grin dropped as she felt a sharp pain go through her back and the bottle was released from her mouth as she let out a cry and began to struggle in Optimus' arms. Jack watched with wide optics and sat up in Arcee's arms, but she quickly calmed him and lay him back down.

Everyone else in the room had their gazes fixed on the struggling sparkling as Optimus bounced her to try and calm her.

"What happened?" Ratchet walked over after passing Raf over to Bumblebee.

"I'm unsure, she seemed fine," replied a confused and concerned Prime, "Bulkhead, please patrol, Bumblebee, give Raf to Arcee and join Bulkhead. Arcee, take the sparklings to your quarters."

They were about to complain but realised their leader was giving sudden orders to try and make the base less crowded and thereby less distressing for the sparkling and everyone that might have to listen to her cries. It also meant Ratchet could focus with no distractions.

Miko began to cry as the pain became sharper, she struggled more and reached for her back to try to ease the pain in anyway. It was burning, it felt like someone was jabbing knives into her spine and it was tingling in the most excruciating way.

Fat tears rolled down her faceplates as she was carried towards the medbay and passed over to Ratchet for examination. He quickly traced the sparkling's motions towards her back and ran his hand down her back gently earning more pained cries.

"I think I know what the problem is," Ratchet gave a small smile.

Optimus looked at his old friend for answers.

"Miko is a seekerling and her wings are beginning to form," he explained as he pointed at two tiny lumps on her back, "these are her wing nubs, the very beginning of what will become wings."

"The humans are certainly full of surprises…" Prime slightly smiled but there was an element of sadness. He watched as Ratchet prepared an anaesthetic to inject into the seekerling.

"Who knew…" Ratchet shook his head with a slight laugh as he held Miko still and attempted to calm her, "Miko this is going to hurt a bit, but I promise you'll feel better afterwards."

Miko went still as the needle was pushed into one of the areas that burned and squeaked in pain as she felt the anaesthetic enter her systems. She slumped as she instantly felt the pain going away and she let out a muffled squeak of thanks. She was once again picked up, cradled and rocked slightly by the Prime and she let out a yawn. All that commotion had taken its toll on her and she happily snuggled into the leader's warm frame.

"Thanks, guys," she squeaked as she closed her optics.

Suddenly, the proximity sensors began blaring around the base and the two older bots winced as Miko's optics shot open and she let out a cry of despair.

"Oh, come on!" she screeched as she threw her little arms up.

Prime passed the seekerling to Ratchet before quickly going to turn off the alarms and check exactly who had set them off. A quick look told Optimus that it was Agent Fowler… and June Darby. His optics widened. Oh, Primus, no.

Arcee came into the main part of the base from her quarters with two irritated sparklings in her arms. Her attention was taken off said sparklings instantly when she realised the two people on the monitor that had set off the alarms and she suddenly felt like she was going to faint.

"What are we gonna do about this?" Arcee asked over the squeaks of the little ones.

"What we must, Arcee," Prime responded emotionless as always.

"If you think we're handing them over then you're out of your mind, Optimus," Ratchet was in shock as he looked at his leader.

"Of course not, Ratchet. I simply suggest that we tell the truth, instead of try to cover up what has happened."

"And what if they decide that they want to take the sparklings from us?" the blue femme snapped.

"We will refuse, and they will come to understand that Cybertronian young cannot be cared for by humans," their leader explained calmly.

If his comrades believed he would give up their young charges, then they were very wrong. It wouldn't prove to be any good for both the sparklings and the humans. Plenty of risks entered Optimus' mind and he was not about to allow even one of those situations to ever exist.

"Right," Arcee gave an unsure look.

The elevator leading to the roof opened and instantly all three sparklings shut up and trained their focus on it.

The three older bots felt uncomfortable as soon as Fowler and June walked into the base. June went ahead and marched right up to the safety railings with a huge scowl on her face and looked Arcee in the optics, not even noticing the sparklings she held.

"Do you happen to know where Jack is?" she asked surprisingly calm for a woman who looked like she was about to kill someone.

"June, I'm sorry but I-" Arcee was cut off by a squeal.

"Ma!" the sparkling version of Jack gave a big happy grin and reached for June.

"Since when did you guys have babies?" Fowler walked towards June as he scratched the top of his head with a raised eyebrow.

The Autobots watched in silence, not knowing what to do as June's eyes narrowed. She looked at the sparkling that had just squealed and looked him over thoroughly.

"That's my son!" she shrieked in horror.

"June, don't be insane, he's probably just been at a slumber party," Fowler tried but the woman was having none of it.

"Agent Fowler, I know my baby when I see him," she growled, "and I'm guessing that's Raf next to him, and Miko is with Ratchet."

"Nurse Darby, I'm sorry…" Ratchet looked the woman in the eyes as she crossed her arms, "that is indeed Jack."

The woman shook her head angrily and literally looked like she was about to blow up at the Autobots. She had every right to, that was her son and his two friends whom she was also very protective of.

Optimus looked at her with soft optics, "June-"

"How could you let this happen, Optimus? As I'd told you before, they're children and they don't belong in your world. I should never have let them stay here, as much as they love you, this has gone too far," she was almost in tears at this point, "you promised you would protect these children, and now they're not human anymore. Do they even know what's happening? Is there a cure?"

The poor woman was looking at the floor as she tried to steady herself. Optimus looked at her sadly.

"June, maybe you should take a seat," Fowler offered as he took hold of her arm gently guiding her in the direction of the sofa.

"No thank you, I've seen and said all I needed to," she said sharply as she tugged her arm out of Fowler's grip and headed to the elevator, "I'll be waiting outside for you."

"Ma?" Jack squeaked sadly as he watched his mother turn her back on him.

Arcee gave him a soothing smile and gently bounced him in her arms.

"It's okay, Jack, she'll come back when she's ready to," she comforted.

Everyone fell silent as they watched her exit through the elevator, and once she was out of sight, Fowler spoke up.

"Prime, this is ridiculous," he ran a hand down his face, "are these babies really Jack, Miko and Rafael?"

"I'm afraid so, Agent Fowler," Optimus replied.

"How did this happen?" he asked harshly making the sparklings squeak in fright.

"Unfortunately, we haven't reached a conclusion just yet," came an answer from the medic.

Ratchet shifted Miko in his arms so she could properly see Agent Fowler.

"Miko?" Fowler sighed, "I've gotta admit these robot kids are cute, but they shouldn't be robot kids… What do I tell their parents? June will get through this and will come to accept things, but I can't leave the other parents in the dark. They're looking for their kids and they need an answer as soon as."

"Say we're on a school trip, dude!" Miko shouted to him as if he were dumb for not thinking of it.

"That'd be a weird school trip if the school never mentioned anything to our parents…"

"Raf's right…" Jack sighed completely exhausted and the day had only just begun.

Fowler spared a smile in the direction of the babbling sparklings as Optimus spoke up.

"Agent Fowler, we are perfectly capable of looking after the children, after all they are currently Cybertronian young and it wouldn't be beneficial to the sparklings if they were to be removed from our care. I believe our best cover for this situation is to inform General Bryce of the real situation and a false one so he may speak to the parents directly and update them with the false situation. An idea of a false situation might entail what was thought to be a harmless prank gone too far and thus requiring their containment by the government," Prime explained.

"As if they weren't already doing something similar to that," Arcee snorted.

Fowler, yet again, ran his hand down his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. The man was already stressed and this on top made the man want to get into bed and never come out.

"Look after them… I'll be checking up on them soon, and I'm sure June will too."

He walked towards the elevator as Optimus nodded in acknowledgement. Ratchet and Arcee both gave groans and sighs signalling their views on the situation at hand. Whilst Optimus spoke to them about the possible meetings that would take place with other officials and most likely General Bryce, the sparklings had other things to deal with.

Raf looked on and his optics glazed over with fresh tears, "I forgot about our parents, god I feel like such an idiot! How could I forget about Mama?!"

Arcee bounced Raf as he whimpered whilst Jack and Miko watched their friend in surprise at his sudden outburst but deemed the situation to be completely appropriate for him to be acting that way.

Miko turned to him with her optics shining bright with a smile lighting up her face even more, "Dude, don't worry! Ms Darby is just worried, if anything it just shows us why Jack is the way he is," she laughed getting a giggle out of her younger friend.

"Yeah, I guess mom did rub off on me in that sense," Jack chuckled, "but seriously, Raf, don't worry. The bots will get us back to our normal selves in no time!"

Raf gave a small smile towards his friends as they reassured him, and he couldn't help but be thankful. He turned over to Miko when he saw her practically ready to jump out of Ratchet's arms.

"Yup exactly that! Look at it this way, we don't have school!" she wiggled around happily with a big grin.

"I guess…" he grinned back.

Ratchet was trying to listen to what Optimus was saying to him, but he honestly couldn't with the bouncing armful of excited seekerling threatening to fall from his grip.

"Miko, settle down," he suddenly barked as he tightened his hold on said sparkling.

_Stare._

The seekerling suddenly let out a squeal of amusement and was practically in tears as she laughed at the poor medic, it had clicked in the girl's mind that now she could annoy Ratchet in a completely new way! Not just that but what could he honestly do to a sparkling? It's not like he could do anything to-

Her laughter ceased and her entire form took on a state of shock as Ratchet tapped the centre of her faceplates. Optimus stroked the sparkling's tiny wing nubs to try and ease the edge off of what Ratchet had just done to her, but he did find it amusing. No one had ever managed to shut Miko up that quickly.

Arcee couldn't help but look on with a laugh, "Ratchet that was a bit harsh, why don't you bring her over here and they can all play for a bit? They've probably had enough of being held," to which she got a nod from Ratchet.

"How about we move these energon cubes and form a little barrier that they can stay in?"

"No! Why would they try to take away our freedom like that… we're gonna be in robot baby jail," she crossed her arms, sat up as straight as her body would allow her and put on her best Optimus voice, "'freedom is the right of all sentient beings', ach, whatever big OP."

Raf and Jack couldn't help but laugh at her weak impression of the Prime. Said Prime's attention was caught by the giggling and the squeals coming from Miko, he shook his helm slightly as he continued moving energon storage containers into an organised space that allowed the sparklings plenty of room to play.

The trio looked awkward as they were then placed in their "play pen".

"Now what?" Jack asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Raf looked up at the three older bots and saw they were all staring, "I think they expect us to do something?"

"Well they better get over themselves because we're not circus performers," the seekerling snapped.

"What's wrong Miko, you're upset because Ratchet isn't giving you any more cuddles, aren't you?" Arcee cooed at her making all three sparklings scowl.

"Lord have mercy on me," Miko closed her eyes and allowed herself to flop backwards and starfish on the floor.

Ratchet began walking towards all of his tools, "I do actually have something that they can have whilst I construct more things for them."

"You're sure they won't choke?" Arcee placed a hand on her hip as she watched the medic walk off.

He rolled his optics, "Arcee, I'm a doctor, why would I ever want to give myself more patients?"

Arcee and Optimus looked back down at the babbling sparklings and wondered what on Earth they could be saying.

"I wonder what Ratchet has hidden in all of his tools if he has something for us? You'd think a guy like that knows how to hide stuff right?" Raf asked, going out of his way to start a little conspiracy theory.

"Now that I think about it, that is true. He could be hiding other humans as much as he says he dislikes us," Jack laughed but his smile then dropped, "but then again that's kidnapping…"

"Imagine Ratchet actually kidnapping someone though, I can totally see that. Dude is probably a freak," Miko added on.

When Ratchet walked back to the play pen, he noticed that all three sparklings were watching him intently, so he smiled and offered them a soccer ball that he'd taken off Miko when she decided it'd be fun to kick it around base and knock over something he needed.

"Catch!" he smiled as he threw it in to them.

"Woah!" Raf was knocked over as the ball hit him directly in the face, "that hurt!" he shouted angrily. The medic walked over and sat the sparkling back up, knowing that he was too young to do it himself.

"Are you sure you don't want a patient?" came a quip from the Prime.

The medic spared a look at the sparkling he'd hit and then walked to a computer terminal as he mumbled to himself about lack of respect, from a Prime nonetheless.

Jack crawled over to the ball and held it in his little hands and sighed, "I can't lie, I already miss being around other humans."

"It's been a day, but okay, Mr. Dramatic," Miko scoffed as she gestured for him to throw the ball to her.

"I know, but I could be helping my mom out," he rolled the ball as he found himself incapable of throwing it.

"And he can't make any moves with Sierra!" Raf chirped.

"Right!" Miko poked the ball in front of her, not really finding it interesting. None of them were capable of much movement, so this was a dead game, "what can we do? I'm so bored…"

"Didn't Ratchet say you're a flier?" Raf asked with a tilt of his little helm.

"Yeah, why?"

"Why don't we try and see if you can fly?" the smallest of the bunch was visibly excited for his friend.

"I don't think that's how it works, Raf. Miko can't even walk yet…"

"Don't be such a pessimist, Jack," Miko rolled her optics as she crawled over to the side and pulled herself up and balanced against the energon cubes that were keeping them contained, "just gotta focus?"

Jack and Raf found themselves looking at Miko with raised eyebrows as she suddenly began tensing as if she was constipated.

"I don't think that's it…" Raf said awkwardly.

"You don't say."

Jack closed his optics briefly as he thought of something fun that they could do. The bots were clearly busy, they were at war after all and they had been put in this contained area for a reason. Obviously the sparklings had been left to entertain themselves.

Jack and Miko watched with bored expressions as Raf took the ball from Miko and began to bounce it up and down with his hands.

If this was how much fun they'd be having during their time as sparklings, this was going to be _frustrating_. However, they failed to notice Ratchet watching Raf with keen optics, apparently Raf was still smart as a sparkling.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bumblebee had just returned from his patrol after he'd convinced Bulkhead that he needed to go and talk to Optimus about something important. And now said bot was pressing Optimus on a matter that was slightly annoying him. Just slightly.

"Hey, Optimus. How come you gave Raf to Ratchet last night? I could've looked after him?" he buzzed at his leader.

"I believe it is better that the sparklings be in the care of older Cybertronians. You are still young, Bumblebee, and have much to learn," Optimus rumbled calmly.

"Right…" Bumblebee battled with himself to stop his next comment from coming out but honestly he couldn't, "yet I'm old enough to fight a war, right?"

And with that, Bumblebee rolled his optics and walked away from the Prime, leaving said Prime with his eyebrows raised and optics wide.

"I do not appreciate your tone, Bumblebee," he frowned.

"I just wanna be there for my best friend, but you guys don't even seem to trust me with holding the little guy or anything," he scoffed, "wasn't he more delicate as a human?"

"And you can be here for him, you just won't have full guardianship of him."

Bumblebee's doorwings began to shake with anger and he turned to glare at his leader,

"Oh? So, Ratchet's his guardian now? Cool."

"We are thinking of what is best for the sparklings, not trying to keep you away from them," Prime tried to reassure the frustrated young bot but didn't manage to withold the stern tone.

"By keeping me away from the sparklings?" the scout turned away from Prime, "You're so full of it," he transformed and prepared to speed out of the base.

"Oooooooooh, drama!" Miko squeaked as her and her friends looked on in interest.

"Bumblebee's fighting Optimus for you, Raf," Jack smiled, "that's kinda cute."

Jack's smile was wiped off of his face, however, as when he turned to look at his younger friend, he found that said younger friend had tears streaming down his face and was preparing to let out a loud agitated cry. Both Jack and Miko looked on with wide optics, completely speechless as his wails began, thus drawing the attention of the two arguing bots.

Bumblebee transformed back to his bipedal mode and went to pick up Raf but Optimus beat him to it, picking up the distressed sparkling and rocking him to try and get him to calm down.

The scout rolled his optics and transformed to leave the base.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus called after him firmly.

Raf squealed and reached for his guardian as he watched him drive away with more tears streaming down his little faceplates.

Optimus should have known that Bumblebee would be upset, but the scout needed to know that he was too young to be caring for a sparkling.

"And when exactly did I agree to becoming Raf's new guardian?" Ratchet asked over the noise as he continued typing on the monitor not bothering to turn and face Optimus.

"Old friend, surely you must-"

"Of course, I understand," Ratchet interrupted, "I'll monitor Bumblebee's signal later, but for now I'll leave him to cool off."

"What is wrong, Rafael?" Optimus wondered as he looked down at the distraught sparkling in his arms.

"Yeah, what _is_ wrong?" Jack chirped worriedly to his friend.

"I don't know," Raf squealed angrily.

"Raf, hey it's okay," Miko tried with a sad smile. It was concerning watching the smallest of them go into a panicked frenzy.

The medic walked over to where his leader was stood and plucked Raf out of his arms.

"Where are you taking him?"

"I have a few activities planned for him," Ratchet smiled whilst Raf ceased his crying in favour of looking up at his new caretaker with a confused frown.

Optimus gave him a nod of acknowledgment and the old medic walked in the direction of one of the many empty rooms within the silo. He'd need peace and quiet to conduct his little educational tests on the sparkling currently in his arms.

"Jack," Miko called and continued once Jack was facing her, "do you think we could end up acting more like sparklings the longer we remain as sparklings?"

Jack knew what she was getting at. Raf had acted extremely out of character at that moment and he couldn't help but draw the same conclusion as his Japanese friend. What if they did regress?

Jack smiled to calm his friend, not letting on his own concerns, "No, Miko. I think Raf is just stressed and tired, he'll be fine."

Miko opened her mouth to respond but was prevented when Arcee approached them.

"In that case, I think I'm gonna go teach Jack a few things too, this sparkling really kept his habit of bottling things. I can tell how stressed he is just by looking at him," Arcee rolled her optics as she picked her charge up and out of the pen area and walked off to her quarters.

"That just leaves us two then, Miko," Prime said softly with a small smile as the seekerling squeaked at him in interest as she blew a spit bubble.

"So, what're we gonna do then, Boss Bot?" she beamed.

Miko screwed her face up in despair when Optimus merely picked her up, snuggled her into the crook of one of his big, red arms and walked up to a computer terminal to begin typing with his free hand.

"Ah man…" she groaned, "I want Bulk," she let herself droop in the Prime's arms and watched the screen with bored optics.

* * *

Ratchet had taken Raf into a training room, he would've taken the sparkling back to his room, but he needed more open floor space for the activities he'd planned. The old bot had seen the way Raf had managed to somehow coordinate his arms and bounce the ball despite not yet having the ability to even crawl.

The sparkling was gently set down on the floor of the training room, and Ratchet smiled as he unpacked some coloured shapes and put them in front of Raf.

"Now, Raf, you have to pair the shapes together like this," Ratchet demonstrated by pairing two blue squares together.

"Oh, Ratchet… if only you knew that Jack, Miko and I are basically the same," Raf sighed. He felt bad for the medic as he knew that the mech was keen on new research topics, and he seemed to think that he'd found a point of focus.

Raf looked over the shapes in front of him and tried to look alert and focused instead of bored out of his mind. He decided it would be a good idea to just get this out of the way and quickly matched all the shapes according to their shape and colour.

Ratchet looked on in awe before pushing the shapes to the side and placing down card-type items that had images on them. He ordered them all in a grid like fashion and demonstrated to Raf that this activity entailed memorising which card had which image on it so it could then be matched with another card with the same image.

And in a matter of minutes, Raf had finished this second activity, he turned to look at Ratchet as if asking if he had any more activities for him to complete.

"Well, Rafael. You're a genius as a human child and as a Cybertronian sparkling…" Ratchet chuckled slightly as he shook his helm.

Raf huffed slightly, "Sooooo, that's it?"

Ratchet made Raf eat his words, however, as he pulled out a box that had been near the "human kids' area" and his little optics widened when he saw it. It was the dreaded 10,000-piece puzzle that June had bought for them to complete as a way to keep them inside the base and away from hanging out with their guardians. Of course, they'd smiled and nodded when she'd asked if they had managed to complete it.

Raf felt like this was karma for lying, now he didn't even have the help of Jack and Miko. Ratchet expected him to do this all by himself while he was stuck in the form of a robot baby. It was going to be a long day and with that he stuck a thumb in his mouth to aid in his concentration.

* * *

"Okay, Jack, I don't wanna sound like your mom…"

Jack felt there was a "but" coming.

"But," there it was, "you're such a negative little mech sometimes, and this time someone can actually teach you how to deal with things more successfully," Arcee had to admit she felt awkward saying this to her sparkling charge.

Jacked huffed annoyed, "I get where you're coming from, Arcee, but try tell that to anxiety," he muttered.

"I know you try to take responsibility for the safety of you, Miko and Raf, and you just want to be strong for them, but sometimes we all need to just calm down," the two-wheeler smiled softly.

Jack didn't look impressed. Yes, he did try too hard. And yes, it was stressful trying to maintain a strong persona all the time, but he managed. Kind of.

Anyway, the mechling was horrified when Arcee pulled out a metal teddy bear looking thing and showed him it. Curiously, the sparkling reached out and took the figurine from his guardian and then looked at Arcee curiously.

"It was a present from Tailgate back on Cybertron," she smiled sadly, "He salvaged it from who knows where and gave it to me. But now, I guess this is yours."

Jack didn't know what to say. Part of him was flattered that his guardian would give him something so precious. But then he was also slightly annoyed that Arcee seemed to think there needed to be some form of intervention for him and his coping strategies.

"Thanks, Arcee," he squeaked and reached up for her.

"You sound super cute when you babble like that," she said as she picked him up and held him close to her chest.

* * *

It was later on in the evening and the three sparklings had remained with their (new) guardians. Arcee and Ratchet had managed to handle their charges very easily, but Optimus managed to upset Miko.

She had been watching him work from her position cradled in one of his arms, when she decided to stretch out.

"Yo, Optimus, can we go do something else? I'm bored," she groaned as she felt her little wing nubs twitch.

In response, Optimus just cradled her closer to his chest and she let a monumental frown etch onto her face. She began to struggle against him more, she'd been here for hours so if anything, the boss bot was lucky that she had stayed put all that time.

"Miko, what is wrong?" Prime enquired as he looked at the sparkling that now looked up at him with a frustrated expression.

"I wanna do something fun!" she snapped as she kicked her legs out, "I've been in your boring arms all day, watching you do your boring work, and even when Bulk came back from patrol you didn't let me go with him!"

Optimus raised an eyebrow at the little femme and her outburst. He went to move her so he could hold her upright and against his chest but during this movement, he accidentally stubbed one of her wing nubs. His optics widened instantly as the seekerling let out a squeak, instantly realising what he had just done.

Everything was a blur for Miko at this point. Optimus had tried to comfort her as she started crying but if anything, she just got louder and more agitated. The Prime felt an unbelievable amount of relief when he saw Ratchet came running into the room with Raf in his arms.

"What happened to her?" the medic demanded as he took Miko out of the Prime's arms and replaced her with Raf.

"I caught one of her wing nubs by accident," Optimus said guiltily, and Ratchet rolled his optics amused.

"If they're this sensitive then she probably needed to have them numbed again," Ratchet informed the Prime as he went about preparing an anaesthetic.

And soon enough, Miko was held against a medical berth as a needle was pressed into her wings. She struggled slightly with a little groan of pain but then felt her back cool down and instant relief passed through her body.

She remembered seeing Raf in Ratchets arms, speaking to her but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Prime had picked her up as she tried to blink away her tiredness but the addition of the warmth from Prime's frame blurred her vision even more.

"Woah that injection really messed me up," she yawned as she let her optics close.

* * *

Miko suddenly sat up and blinked as she tried to take in the things around her, but she couldn't because she had found herself in a dark room. Her optics slowly adjusted, and she could make out that she had been nestled into Optimus' side as he recharged.

"So, I'm back in Boss Bot's room, huh?" she rolled her optics.

She had to admit it; she felt kind of guilty that she found the Prime so boring. He'd been nothing but kind and loving towards her even when she had been human. But currently, she was feeling very petty that he had kept her cooped up with him all day and then he'd had the audacity to poke her wing before she'd fallen asleep!

"Revenge it is!" she declared as she crawled to the edge of the berth and looked at the distance between it and the floor, "Eh, shouldn't be too bad."

The seekerling let herself drop from the berth legs first and landed in a pathetic heap on the floor with an "oof". She shook her head slightly and then proceeded to crawl towards the conveniently open door and wandered out into the dimly lit corridors of the base.

She crawled towards the main room thinking she would find something fun to do in there, after all, there was a TV, a games console and some speakers to play music on. A grin came to her face as she thought of how she could chill as if she were human again.

"Heh, that's not something I thought I'd ever be thinking…" she smirked, "I'm sure being Cybertronian is cool if you're on Cybertron, but jeesh Earth sucks for these guys."

Miko suddenly froze and she felt her little wing nubs twitch nervously as she heard someone's footsteps around the corner and coming in this direction.

"Scrap!" she huffed to herself and began to look around for somewhere to hide.

Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and she felt two hands pick her up carefully.

"Hey, Miko, what're you doing out here? Shouldn't Optimus be looking after you?" Bee buzzed smarmily. So apparently Prime was more capable than him when it came to sparklings. Right.

"Hey, Bumblebee!" she smiled at him, "Umm I was just looking around for something fun to do!"

Bumblebee nodded with a warm look on his face as she squeaked and babbled at him. Miko knew full well he couldn't understand but at least he was acting like he understood, unlike Optimus who just smiled and moved on with life.

"Uh huh, what else?" he asked happily.

"Dora the Explorer much?" she giggled, "Seriously, Bee, being with OP all day was really boring and I just wanna listen to music or something, so could you let me down?" she pointed to the floor and then looked back up at him with puppy eyes.

Bumblebee didn't let her down, nor did he take her back to Optimus. The yellow scout smirked and then began walking in the direction of one of the many storage rooms on base.

"I have an idea, Miko. Do you like painting?" he smirked.

"Yeah, it's alright I guess," now she was interested. What did the scout have in mind? The seekerling thought that if he got on well with Raf then it meant that he had to be as much as a goody two shoes as Raf right? Apparently not.

Bumblebee remained silent as he walked with the sparkling in his arms until they got to the desired storage room. Miko found herself put down on the floor as the older bot began shuffling through the many items stored in the room. She looked on patiently and curiously and then her optics lit up as she saw the scout pull out what looked to be a large can of pink paint.

"What do you say we show Optimus how good you are at art?" she could practically feel the mischief coming off him in waves and a huge grin came to her face as she voiced her support.

"But wait, just me?" she gestured towards herself and Bumblebee had managed to grasp what she meant.

"Well, if I do it, I'll be punished. If you do it, the most you'll get is a tap on the head from Ratchet," Bee explained.

"Honestly, I was game either way!" she shrilled excitedly.

* * *

A/N: Finished this chapter earlier than expected so ya'll got it earlier than expected. You're welcome, I guess :P

If there happens to be any errors in this then it's because I edited it after it was read by my lovely new beta reader, **Steelcode**. Together we'll be attempting to bring you updates every week or two!

See you in the next update and remember; **suggestions are welcome**!


	3. Soldiers or Professional Playmates?

It was a calm morning in the base, Bumblebee had been watching the monitors that night and nothing interesting had happened meaning everyone could get some well needed recharge.

Bumblebee smirked to himself as he recalled the moment he had dropped Miko off in the Prime's quarters that night, buckets of paint galore. He'd had no issue showing the little seekerling how to hold a paintbrush and how to dip it into the paint can, she seemed really happy as well, so he took that as a sign that this plan was perfect.

"Good morning, Bumblebee," Ratchet said gruffly as he walked in with an alert Raf fidgeting in the crook of his arm.

"Bee!" Raf called happily in a soft, squeaky voice as he reached for him.

Bumblebee was quick to shoot around a stare at the sparkling that had just shouted his name whilst Ratchet rolled his optics at the shout.

The yellow mech's optics trailed the medic as he went to go and fix some sparkling grade energon for Raf and the two other sparklings that were bound to be in here in a matter of minutes with their guardians.

"Did he just speak or am I malfunctioning?" Bumblebee buzzed confused.

"No, you heard correctly, the little demon figured out he can say your name last night and that's all I heard throughout the night," the medic huffed as he sat the sparkling on the medical berth and passed him a bottle.

"Hey, Raf! Can you say anything else?" Bee asked happily.

"Don't think so," Raf's response came out as muffled as he was preoccupied stuffing his face with the energon he had just tugged out of Ratchet's hands, "Wait!"

"Rafael…" the medic sighed tiredly as the sparkling sputtered his energon over the berth.

"That means I beat Miko and Jack at something! They might be able to move but I can speak, and that means I'll be the one to get us back to our human forms!" he cheered.

"What's with all the shouting, Raf?" Arcee cooed as she walked into the main area with Jack on her shoulders, his arms attempting to wrap around her head to hold on as his guardian crossed the room to get a bottle for her charge.

"Rafael has discovered the ability to speak," Ratchet rolled his optics but had a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Jack! I can speak!" Raf called to his friend before shoving the tip of the energon bottle back in his mouth.

Jack's bright optics widened, "Raf, this is huge. You can tell the bots that we're still the same, we just need our human bodies back!"

"Well, I haven't quite figured out how to say other words in a way that they'll understand…"

"So, what can you say?"

"Bee," Raf grinned sheepishly.

"Well, it's a start I guess," Jack trailed slowly with a sulky look.

"Cute," Arcee smiled at Raf as she moved Jack to be cradled in her arms so she could feed him.

"Not when you hear it all night…"

"No, it's definitely cute," Bumblebee shut down the medic.

Jack scowled as he snatched the bottle from his guardian, "I can feed myself."

"What's cute?" Bulkhead stumbled in clumsily.

"Bee!" Raf called with a squeak.

"Aw, little buddy can say your name!" Bulk grinned with a slightly higher pitched voice.

Arcee's optic ridges raised in surprise and a smirk came to her face at the wrecker's reaction, "Where's Miko?"

"Still with Optimus, I don't think he trusts me to look after a sparkling."

There was a squeak of surprise and a clang sound and all four adult bots turned to look at the sparkling that had tumbled off of the berth that Ratchet had left him on.

"Optimus doesn't trust me either, he said Ratchet would be a better guardian for Raf," Bee buzzed sarcastically as they all watched the medic run over to the crying sparkling.

* * *

Optimus' optics onlined slowly and the big mech couldn't help but marvel at the perfect recharge he had just awoken from. He figured it wouldn't hurt to sleep in another few minutes, so he let his optics offline with a small smile.

The mech's optics shot open as he realised that Miko should have woken him up by now, whether it was screeching, laughing or tapping him, he knew there was something not quite right. Slowly, he got up from his berth, careful in case said sparkling were to roll out from somewhere.

"Miko?" Optimus called as he took in the sight of his empty berth. It was very clear that the sparkling had escaped his room during the night and gone on some weird little adventure.

The Prime left his quarters after thoroughly searching every corner of it and began walking slowly towards the main room, keeping his optics peeled for any sight of the seekerling running freely around base.

Arcee was sat peacefully on a crate with Jack consuming his morning energon, Bumblebee had Raf in his arms, both with their own energon, Ratchet was tapping away on the monitors for energon signals and Bulkhead was reading a data pad, apparently the big wrecker liked to try and educate himself when he had the time.

"Good morning, Autobots. I'm afraid Miko has gone missing during the night, and I require your assistance finding her."

All of his Autobots turned upon hearing their leader and the news he had to bring them.

"Good morning, Opti-"

Ratchet sputtered, unable to complete his sentence. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee felt their jaws almost fall off their hinges at the sight of their leader.

Optimus raised an optic ridge at his team, "Is something wrong?" he enquired.

"Optimus kinda looks good in pink," Jack shrugged as Raf giggled.

"Have you perhaps wondered why Miko might have disappeared?" Ratchet asked with a smirk.

Optimus looked at him blankly, waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah, she must have realised you wouldn't be too happy with her little project," Bulkhead laughed before he could stop himself.

"…Project?" Optimus was confused now.

"Look in the monitor, Optimus," Bee held a cheeky glint in his optics. His leader definitely couldn't point digits at him being incapable of looking after a sparkling. Raf squirmed slightly in his arms and let out some babbling when he noticed Bumblebee hadn't used the shortcuts that he had installed for the bots a few weeks after they had first arrived on base.

Optimus watched the monitor as Bumblebee pulled up the security camera view of the main room. The Prime remained externally stoic as he saw the state of himself on the monitors before looking down at himself.

Pink. Bright pink paint. All over him.

Internally, Optimus wasn't necessarily angry, he was disappointed in himself; a sparkling, practically a newspark had outsmarted him during his recharge and then run away to hide. How had he not found any spot of the paint on him or in his quarters?

It seemed that he needed to keep an optic on their rambunctious little seekerling. Apparently, she was just as curious, if not more, that human Miko.

"Okay, go get cleaned up, Optimus. We'll go look for Miko, she can't have gotten far," Arcee giggled as she stood up with Jack clinging to her and babbling to himself.

"Miko, only you…" he shook his head and let out a laugh. Okay, he needed to get on his friend's level, clearly, they were able to get away with things that human versions of them wouldn't be able to do.

Optimus nodded to and turned to walk to the wash racks with a small scowl on his face. It was the morning of the third day with sparklings on base, and already the trouble had begun.

* * *

About 3 hours later, Miko was found asleep in a vent close to the ground near Bumblebee's quarters. She was smothered helm-to-pede in pink paint and seemed very relaxed in the vent she was sleeping in. She was rudely awoken when she felt someone pulling her out and then passed over to a person with bigger hands.

Her small optics blinked open and onlined revealing her bright, happy optics. They formed into an unimpressed look when she saw the person holding her was a very unimpressed Prime.

"Aw come on, dude! You already washed off the paint before I could even see your reaction?!"

She already knew what the big mech looked like, but the reaction was what she lived for.

"Miko, where'd you find the paint?" Jack smirked from his place in Arcee's hold.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "Bumblebee gave it to me."

"Bee gave you it?" Raf was shocked that his best friend would aid Miko in a prank.

"Yeah that's right, Raf, 'Bee'" Bumblebee cheered when he heard his name come from the sparkling before he turned back to the older bots that were debating how to make sure the sparklings couldn't wander off in the night.

"I can say Bee's name and they understand it," Raf explained when Miko looked on confused

"Well, 'Bee was actually the one that came up with the plan to paint Optimus, but you didn't hear that from me," she grinned.

"Doesn't surprise me," the oldest sparkling shrugged, "He doesn't seem very impressed that he isn't Raf's fulltime guardian anymore."

"Miko," Optimus got her attention, "I'm not happy with you or your actions."

Miko merely stared at him in response before giggling at him earning a sigh from the Prime.

The group of bots all walked back to the main area where Arcee, Bulkhead and Raf started to entertain Jack and Raf whilst Optimus and Ratchet walked to the medical bay.

A small tub was filled with cleaning solvent and a squeaking Miko was placed into it much to her displeasure.

"Hey! I like being pink!" she squealed as Optimus carefully scrubbed her small body.

"Hush, Miko," Optimus cooed slightly as he moved to her wing nubs. He smiled when the wing nubs flicked solvent at him and twitched when he gently cleaned them, "Primus, you're so precious…"

Prime mentally scolded himself when he heard a cough and turned to see Ratchet with a smirk on his face and a bottle in his hand for Miko. Optimus took it with a nod of thanks and held the bottle out for Miko, waiting for her to take it before he continued cleaning her.

"Thanks, big guy," she smiled as she took the bottle and began to drink her energon happily, "Oh man this is heaven…"

Apparently energon and someone rubbing her wing nubs was the best combination in the universe and she found herself slumped over the Prime's hand in a trance like state.

However, she was forced back into reality when Arcee walked over and placed Jack and Raf into the solvent with her, "Wouldn't hurt to clean these two as well," she smiled as she began gently brushing the solvent over both of their plating.

Jack and Raf looked at her awkwardly before they all tried their best to not look at each other. Both weren't sure how to feel about bathing with each other like this, plus it was embarrassing having Optimus and Arcee clean them like they were their parents.

But Miko easily shook it off, she had grown up in a family that loved visiting hot springs when they were travelling to different places in Japan. Soon she was sucking in air through her bottle and her optics onlined as the bottle was pulled from her mouth. She let out a small squeal as she was pulled out of the warm solvent, wrapped in a towel and placed against the Prime's large shoulder and was patted on the burp until she let out a burp.

Arcee pulled Raf and Jack from the tub a few minutes later after making sure both were squeaky clean.

"You guys okay?" she asked gently as she wrapped them both in a towel together. She was shocked that the sparklings had remained so quiet throughout the whole bathing process. The two young mechlings would be blushing bright red if their anatomy allowed it.

"So, I've come up with possible punishments for Miko," Ratchet drawled with a smirk.

Optimus' gaze fell from Ratchet to the sparkling now wrapped up in his arms and looking close to falling into recharge, "I don't think now is the time."

Ratchet smiled, his old friend was still a big softy, Prime or not.

"Nope! I'm awake, come on lemme go play with Bulk and the others. You guys are cool and all but you're like the grandpas of the team!"

"Would you like to go and play with the others, Miko?" Optimus asked softly.

"Yes!" she squealed in excitement and threw her arms up making Optimus chuckle and gently pat her head.

* * *

"Alright, now that we've got the gang back together," Bulkhead gestured towards the three sparklings, "I say we build a fort."

Bumblebee buzzed in excited agreement and nodded his head and Arcee rolled her optics with a small smile.

"Alright then gang, let's go get some crates and some mech covers from storage and then head to a training room. I'm sure Optimus and Ratchet won't mind us building it in there."

"Yeah, sounds good, 'Cee!"

Bumblebee and Arcee watched as Bulkhead scooped up all three sparklings and started sprinting towards one of the training rooms, said sparklings all squealing in delight. The two bots left behind were left with the delightful realisation that they'd be the ones to gather the supplies and bring it along.

"Faster, Bulkhead!" Miko shouted and threw her arms in the air at the makeshift rollercoaster.

"Yeah!" Raf followed suit and threw his arms up too.

"I feel sick," Jack groaned from the side of his friends, but it came out as a squeal making Bulkhead think he was enjoying himself as much as the other two.

Jack vented in relief when they reached the training room of choice and crawled to his friends upon being set down on the floor.

"Fort-building, huh? Decepticon activity must have dried up," Raf quipped.

The blue femme and the yellow mech walked into the room together, dragging along a bunch of supplies with them. They'd crafted a net from some of the mesh covers they had found to drag along all the empty energon cubes they wished to use alongside some spare coverings and support beams that had been left behind from the previous human residents of the base.

"Alright, here's how this is gonna work; Bulkhead, you and Miko are gonna stack these crates around the room. Bumblebee and Raf are in charge of support beams in between the spaces that crates leave. Jack and I are throwing mesh covers everywhere."

"Sure, Arcee, give yourself the easy part," Bee tilted his helm to the side and feigned shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought you big, strong mechs would be able to deal with the heavy lifting," she smirked as Bumblebee straightened up and went to lift as many beams as he could, trying to be the big, strong mech that Arcee claimed he was, "Looks like we win, Jack."

Jack giggled up at his guardian before he could catch himself. His smile stuck to his face as he crawled past his guardian and over to the supplies where he found a mesh cover to pick up and carry around. He may be small, but he can still help out!

Miko and Raf watched from where they were sat together on the floor as their guardians picked up some of the supplies they needed and started to position them around the large space they had occupied. Their gaze was focused on Jack when they saw him pushing himself up from the floor and onto his two little legs, surprisingly the little mech made it and managed to stand up for a solid two seconds before dropping back onto his little aft.

"Woah Jack-Rabbit, look at you go," Miko cheered, "My turn!"

Miko honestly was trying, but Raf and Jack couldn't help but look at her as if she wasn't taking this attempt to stand up seriously. She pulled herself up using one of the crates that Bulkhead had placed next to her and tried to take a step away from her, but she was wobbling too much, and way more than Jack had been.

She slumped to the floor and groaned, Raf could speak and Jack was about to start walking. What was she good at?

"You'll get there, Miko, you're just little," Bulkhead called over to her from where he was stacking some crates.

"Damn right I will!" she called back as she pushed herself up to try again. She wobbled and fell to the floor again in heap.

"You're slouching your back when you stand, Miko. Maybe that's why you can't stay standing?" Raf offered as he watched his friend untangle herself and try again.

"Oh yeaaah, she has wings," Jack thought as he pushed himself up and stayed up this time as he focused on keeping his balance, "They might be extra weight or something?"

"Maybe, but still, there's no way bots with wings can't walk," Miko complained as she pushed herself up yet again, this time without the crate, "Progress!" she shouted and toppled over instantly.

Raf and Jack laughed at her, at least she could stay positive.

Jack was suddenly feeling nostalgic, last time he and his two friends had laughed like that, they'd been having a sleepover at base and had more pizza than three people needed, "I really miss being able to eat pizza…"

"I miss my laptop and school…"

"Can't relate on the school part, but it's weird how much I actually miss from human life as crappy as it could be," Jack said with a sigh.

"True say, but I think being Cybertronian could be fun. Imagine if they can't change us back and we end up going back to Cybertron with them, that'd be sweet!"

Jack's optics widened at Miko's statement; he knew it was meant with good intentions but Raf was a sensitive boy.

"Well, I have no doubt that the bots are gonna change us back eventually," the older boy placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

Before they knew it, their guardians had completed the fort and picked them up. The training room was huge, and they'd managed to fill almost the whole room with the resources they had collected. During the construction, they had decided they could make the fort maze-like to make the games they'd play in there more fun.

"Alright, Bee. What games do you sparklings wanna play?" Arcee teased.

"I'll have you know I'm a professional at tag," the scout whirred confidently, "You're it!" he slapped Arcee and in an instant, the scout and the wrecker at shot off at hyper-speed into the fort maze.

"That wasn't fair!" Jack shouted angrily and then he realised what he was doing, "Chill, Jack… it's a game, I'm not actually a sparkling," he laughed uncomfortably to himself as his guardian started running after the fleeing mechs.

Miko peeked her little helm over Bulkhead's shoulder and her optics widened, "Incoming, Bulk!"

"We got this, Miko," and with that Bulkhead ditched Bumblebee and Raf and made a sharp turn around the corner and followed any path he saw in the maze.

Arcee wasn't expecting this sharp turn, tried to stop and ending up flying past the turn and crashed into Bumblebee, "Well, I guess that worked out, you're it!" she slapped the scout on the arm and sprinted past him and around the corner.

"C'mon Bee! Let's get her!" Raf pointed after Arcee and the scout took off after her, he was not about to be beaten especially since he had proudly declared he was a pro.

Meanwhile, Bulkhead had been mapping out the maze that he had tangled himself and Miko in to get away from Arcee. A shout told him that Bumblebee was now 'it' and the big mech was now attempting to tread quietly through the maze that had been crafted. Honestly, he thought he would've remembered where he was since he helped to build this thing, but the fort was so damn big that it was easy to get lost.

The wrecker and the seekerling soon approached a cross in the maze and both stuck their helms out to see if there was any sign of a small blue femme or a young yellow scout.

"Alright, Miko, which way we heading?" Bulk turned to look up at the sparkling sat on his shoulders. She released one of her arms from her grip on his helm and pointed to the straight forward and the big mech walked straight ahead.

She didn't say a word as she didn't want her and Bulk to get caught. The seekerling giggled quietly, this was reminding her of when she made Jack and Raf play Slender with her.

Both perked up suddenly when they heard pedefalls coming their way, and fast. It was too light to be Bumblebee, so it was Arcee but both didn't know if she had been tagged or not. This could be a trap.

"Hold on, Miko!" Bulk called as he turned around and ran just as Arcee turned the corner and ran from the direction they were just about to walk in.

"Bee's coming!" she shouted with a big smile on her face as Jack laughed wildly.

"You're not it?" Bulkhead shouted back as he continued running.

"Might be!" she grinned as she overtook him and sprinted even faster.

Bulkhead watched after the fast femme as she turned a corner and successfully imbedded herself into the maze they had created, but his attention was diverted when he heard a high-pitched squeal come from behind him accompanied by some heavier pedefalls.

"There they are!" Raf squealed as he pointed at Bulkhead and Miko.

Miko's head whipped to look at her friend and his guardian before smacking Bulkhead on the helm with her little servos, "Step on it, Bulk! They're gaining on us!"

But it was too late, the young scout had caught up and smacked Bulkhead on the arm with a triumphant buzz and a happy squeal from Raf, "Tag it!"

Bulk smiled evilly and moved an arm to make sure Miko was secure on his shoulders before darting after Bumblebee, "Not gonna be it for long!"

* * *

The base had gone quiet, too quiet. Ratchet and Optimus knew that the three younger bots had taken their charges to wind down and have some fun. They must have gone deep into the base as there was no sign of any of them.

"I wonder what they're up to," Ratchet pondered as he tweaked some of his recently broken tools, courtesy of Bulkhead.

"I do not know, old friend. But it is too quiet for my liking," Optimus responded from his position at the monitors. A small alert sounded from the monitor drawing both mechs' attention, it was an energon signal that was currently unearthed, meaning the Decepticons were still yet to have come across it.

Optimus was quick to activate his comm link and sent a message through to the frequency everyone on base shared.

{Autobots, we have discovered an energon signal which must be attended to immediately, prepare to roll out.}

However, he was met with static. No pings of confirmation, no responses of any form, and that had both mechs worried. Just where were the Autobots and what were they doing?

"They definitely haven't left base. We would have seen them drive out or activate the groundbridge, they're probably engaged in some uncanny way of keeping themselves entertained," the medic scoffed as he continued fixing his tools.

"The energon can wait, the Decepticons don't seem to have made contact with this signal. I will go and find them and make sure they are not in any form of trouble," Optimus nodded as he begun making his way into the deeper parts of the base, keeping his optics and audials wide open for any sign of his team.

As he ventured deeper, he became increasingly concerned at the lack of life in the halls. There were six of them altogether, for Primus' sake, and Optimus couldn't find a clue that led to a single one of them. That was until he heard the multiple shrieks of laughter and the squeals of young sparks coming from one of the training areas.

The Prime walked in the direction of all the commotion but stopped in his tracks when it all went silent again. Had he imagined all of that?

His worries were shut down when it all started up again and repeat. It made him wonder why there were periodic bursts of noise and then silence. Even the sparklings would go quiet with their guardians, yet he could just about get Miko to quieten down on occasion. What on Cybertron were they doing?

Finally, the noise led Optimus to push open the large doors of the training area that all the noise was emanating from and he was met with a sight that made him freeze. His optics widened as he took in the confusing sight of mesh blankets strung up all over the large area with the occasional support beam or stack of crates hanging out of the side of the structure.

_A fort_, he realised.

And if the sound of three bots running told him anything, he guessed that they were engaged in some form of game to keep the sparklings entertained. Where was his invite?

"Autobots," he called, and a smirk came to his face plates when all of the running, shouting and laughing completely stopped.

"Frag, it's Optimus," came a whisper, but the Prime could only just make out what the small voice had said, let alone who had said it.

"Maybe if we stay quiet, he'll think we're somewhere else," came another whisper.

"That's stupid, he clearly knows we're in here," another whispered voice joined in.

Optimus struggled to conceal a chuckle when one of the whisperers snapped back, "Well, it's worth a try."

And then there was silence again. So, they wanted to mess around with Optimus Prime? He figured he could indulge in their games.

He walked towards the entrance of the fort without saying a word and let himself in. He was shocked at the amount of detail that had gone into making this, he would never have guessed that the inside had different turns and random dead ends. He walked calmly through the maze, taking any turn that wouldn't lead him in a circle whilst trying not to get the points on his helm caught on the mesh roof that had been constructed.

There was a quick flash of yellow and a small squeak of surprise that followed it. Optimus followed as quietly as he could, and suddenly he rounded the corner coming face to face (in order of closest to him to furthest from him) Raf, Bumblebee, Jack, Arcee, Miko and Bulkhead.

Before any of them could react or say anything to him, Prime smirked at them, "You have three seconds to run, if I catch you, you're out."

The bots and sparklings exchanged shocked but exited glances before they all shot off and away from the Prime.

"1… 2… 3!"

With that, the Prime went sprinting after his subordinates in the fort maze, hunting them down like a wild dog. He noticed that they had all decided to stick together and strategically try and throw him off course by pretending that one of them had split from the group every so often. Clearly, they had been in this maze long enough to know the ins and outs of every corner, turn and long run.

However, their game was ended when Bulkhead clipped his large frame on a support beam as he ran from Optimus, which in turn led Bumblebee to stumble into some stacked crates as he tried to dodge the beam the falling beam.

Optimus honestly tried to reach and pull Arcee away from the falling crates, but they smashed into her shoulder, making Jack fly off her and hit the floor with a cry of shock. More crates were about to tumble as the entire balance of this area of the fort had been completely thrown off by the loss of two major support systems, and said crates looked like they were about to land right on top of Jack.

The four Autobots didn't know what happened, but Optimus shot forward at hyper speed and snatched the sparkling up off the ground right as the crate fell. The cry of an upset sparkling in Optimus' arms let everyone know that their game was over, so they all dug their way out of the broken part of the fort and into a part of the training area that wasn't fortified.

Jack was successfully shocked; he was clinging to Optimus like his life depended on it and shaking.

"That was way too close," he managed to squeak out as he felt the Prime stroke his back in an attempt to comfort and calm him.

Slowly, his grip on Optimus loosened and he reached over for Arcee making little grabbing motions towards her. He was handed back to Arcee where he was cradled and gently checked over for any dents, fractures or torn wires. To her relief, he seemed to have taken the fall like a trooper as there was no damage, though she would still ask Ratchet to scan him later on. Once she had calmed Jack, she joined her friends and looked at their leader sheepishly.

"I understand that this was made with no intention of harm coming to anyone, however, as we have all witnessed, this is unsafe for the sparklings," Optimus began, "I don't believe it would be wise to use this as a setting for your games again."

"Aww!" Miko groaned from where she was still perched on her guardian's shoulders, "Of course he takes away the only fun thing that we have!"

"Well, I did almost die," Jack pointed out.

"That sounds like a you problem," Miko rolled her optics.

Raf touched his eyes, a form of tick that developed from pushing up his glasses when he was unsure of something, "I guess Optimus is right, that could happen again and seriously hurt one of us."

"What else do they want us to do? All they've done so far is cuddle us and this was the only fun thing we've been able to do!" Miko was getting angry now. She didn't realise she would become this frustrated being a sparkling, but she missed all the things she could do as a teenage human. Being a baby robot was emotionally taxing and there was absolutely nothing she could do. She surmised that Jack and Raf were probably more accepting because they'd lived their whole lives in boring Jasper.

"Hey, Miko" Bulk bounced her a little and tried reassuring her, "Look, Jack's fine there's nothing to be worried about."

"That's not… Ugh." She was so ready to throw a tantrum, but she was abruptly plucked from her perch and held by Optimus who looked at her with a questioning gaze.

"Miko, we can find other games to play," the Prime tried as he stroked her wing nubs.

"No!" she slapped a hand against Optimus' chest but instantly realised what she had done, "Wow, okay I need to chill…"

The other bots looked on with wide optics as they took in what had just happened. Miko really wasn't looking to be in the Prime's good books. First, she painted him pink and now she'd slapped him and shouted "no" in his face.

"Miko, you do not hit me nor anyone else," he said sternly as he frowned at her to which she responded with another rebellious shout.

All other Autobots in the room looked on in disbelief until one of them got over their shock and a big grin came to their face.

"Way to go, Miko! Your first word!" Bulkhead cheered as he pumped a large fist in the air.

Arcee raised an optic ridge at the wrecker's support for the naughty seekerling but said nothing. If he wanted to enjoy another version of a loud, obnoxious Miko then that was his business. She looked down at the sparkling in her arms and lightly brushed her digits over her faceplates whilst she counted her lucky stars that Jack couldn't speak yet, Primus knew she was over his smug comments.

Before Optimus could say anything else to the seekerling held in his arms, Raf suddenly let out a raspy cough onto his guardian's chest plates who could only respond with a buzz mixed with disgust and concern. Everyone in the room became increasingly worried when the youngest sparkling broke out into a violent coughing fit that shook his little body, and wordlessly, they collectively walked back to the main room where they could let Ratchet give him a check-up.

"What could have caused this?" Ratchet muttered to himself as he took the wheezing sparkling from Bumblebee's arms.

Raf felt awful and being passed over to another bot made his little helm spin making him wretch as he tried to not throw up. He groaned as the medic scanned him and could only pray that whatever this was would soon pass. He felt cold, but incredibly hot, he was pretty sure he was shaking, and his body was registering a pain that he could only compare to have tiny needles shoved into his organs. It was sharp and unforgiving, and, in the end, he gave in and let out a pained cry. The little mech's optics were beginning to ache and burn so he shut them off.

The medic gently lowered the sparkling to the medical berth and turned to his worried teammates practically pressed against him in anticipation.

"Rafael is showing symptoms of cyberflu," he shook his head in disbelief and an undertone of sadness, "For now, I would advise everyone to stay away from the medical bay unless absolutely necessary, and, I cannot stress the importance of keeping Jack and Miko away from him. Rafael's systems are not fully developed and are easily attacked by illness…"

"It's not your fault, Ratch," Bulkhead tried as the doctor trailed off, "None of us could have ever guessed that one of them would get so ill."

Ratchet shook his head, "As a physician, I should've vaccinated the sparklings sooner."

"While that may be true, we understand that your resources as a doctor are limited, and thus vaccinations had to be delayed," Optimus reasoned with his friend.

Bumblebee's doorwings drooped and his eyes adjusted trying to keep the sorrow from showing on his faceplates. Raf would have to fight this battle without the support of his guardian. Some words were exchanged, but Bumblebee wasn't paying attention. The scout perked up slightly when he felt Bulkhead pat him on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, and he allowed the wrecker to lead him away from Raf and Ratchet, Optimus and Arcee following closely behind.

Optimus looked down at Miko when she squealed up at him and he gave her a warm smile. He resisted the urge to chuckle when the sparkling tilted her head in confusion, very obviously not familiar with this facial expression etched onto the Prime's face.

"All will be fine, Miko. For now, Rafael must rest," he cooed to her as he tucked her closer to his chest.

* * *

A/N: Lmaooooo so much for updating every week or so. I'm on spring break now and I've finished moving, so hopefully ya'll can get updates.

Also, I'll be deleting Deceptus and TWFADPOV from this website, but they'll still be available on Wattpad. I don't really have a reason other than for pure aesthetics. Wattpad is like my weird little dumping ground, whereas I want a fresh fanfiction page… Don't tell the Wattpad users I said that.

Have a nice Easter and I'll catch ya'll in the next update! ;)


	4. Heirs

It had been a full 24 hours since Ratchet had diagnosed Raf with cyberflu and the poor sparkling was trying his hardest to be brave. But much to his dismay, he was failing because to him it felt like this had been going on for an eternity.

Raf's life had become a combination of unwanted zoning out, short, painful recharge cycles and being poked and prodded by Ratchet. It felt horrible to say the least, but over the course of those 24 hours, he was so ill that he couldn't bring himself to move or cry, so he suffered in silence and stayed as still as a rock unless Ratchet moved him for whatever reason. At this point, he'd lost track of how many times he'd thrown up his energon and the sighs of apprehension that escaped Ratchet.

Ratchet had been very gentle with him and had tried to make him as comfortable as possible, even going as far as making him an incubator out of what little supplies he had at his disposal. The medic was trying to make the sparkling's recover quick, painless and cushioned and Raf couldn't help but tear up at the thought.

Raf smiled as he remembered briefly seeing Bulkhead and Miko, his vision was too blurred, and his mind was too foggy to remember seeing what they came in for. From the strange combination of complaining, apologising, sigh, squeals and giggles, Raf deduced that the situation had been comprised of Ratchet scolding Bulkhead for entering the medbay against his wishes that Rafael remained quarantined. Following this, Miko had gotten another quick wing check-up and an anaesthetic injected into the sensitive nubs whilst her playful guardian attempted to keep her as happy as he possibly could and then they had left. Raf sighed, boy did he miss Bee.

Optimus had also shown up to ask Ratchet if he required assistance before him and the others went to excavate the energon mine they had come across the previous day. That made Raf's spark sting with guilt. If he hadn't gotten ill, then the bots would have already excavated the mine, but instead he had delayed them and now there was a big chance the Decepticons had already come across it. Ratchet had accepted the Prime's assistance and had been quick to leave the medical area with some items in tow; Raf took an educated guess that the doctor had gone to scan Jack and Miko to make sure they hadn't come into contact with the illness. He fell into a restless slumber as he felt a large digit comfortingly glide down his sore body.

"What's wrong with that one then?" a voice woke him from his slumber. It was familiar, but not.

"That one," Ratchet huffed unimpressed, "Has cyberflu and you would do well to stay away from this area of the base, Wheeljack."

Jack squeaked slightly as he was turned in Ratchet's hands and a scanner was held over him. It was his turn to make sure he didn't have any illnesses, from the sight of his younger friend, the older mechling was afraid to get any Cybertronian bugs. He let out a small grunt as he was lifted and placed into Wheeljack's arms.

Wheeljack smirked as he looked at the sparkling that stared up at him before turning to Raf, "Get well soon, buddy," he waved and turned to walk back to the main area.

Apparently, he had arrived just before Optimus was about to embark on the trip to the energon mines. Wheeljack showing his face had put the group in a more comfortable position; the former wrecker needed to perform maintenance checks and refuel the Jackhammer and had opened himself up to the role of babysitter.

All the Autobots on base minus Ratchet were all stood waiting for orders from their leader. Jack was held awkwardly and uncomfortably in the grenade-fanatic's grip whilst Miko wiggled around energetically in Bulkhead's strong arms.

"Bulkhead and Wheeljack will remain with Jack and Miko," Optimus declared to which a squeal of excitement erupted from Miko, "Bumblebee, Arcee, you will accompany me to the energon mine," he looked toward the two aforementioned soldiers.

"Got it," everyone confirmed.

In a matter of minutes, everyone aside from Ratchet had left the base, either for the energon or to go and help Wheeljack on the Jackhammer.

"Cooooooooooool!" Miko's optics widened as her and Jack were placed in the pilot's seat.

"Hey," Jack grinned as he turned to Miko, "I wonder what this button does!"

His little arm reached up to tap a bright red button, but it was quickly caught by Bulkhead.

"Jackie, you might wanna disable controls for now," the green bot called to his friend who was outside of the ship performing basic maintenance.

"Nah, they're fine! Buttons that are noticeable can't even function right now, not until I've refuelled this," his friend called back.

Jack looked at his younger friend with wide optics, "Miko… what_ are_ you doing?"

Miko was in the middle of shoving some piece of metal in her mouth and looked incredibly happy whilst doing it. Where she had gotten this item, Jack didn't know but he was incredibly concerned with his friend's choices.

"Looks tasty!" she chirped before trying to bite down on it.

"Hey, kid, we don't eat parts of my ship," Wheeljack took the item from her and put it where they couldn't reach it, "Maybe I will disable the controls…"

Bulkhead turned back to the two excited sparklings in the ship and said softly, "Alright guys, I'm gonna go help Jackie, so behave. Miko, no trying to eat anything."

Jack and Miko watched as the big bot sauntered off and out of the ship before they turned to each other with excited expressions.

"Okay, this is awesome. I've never been in a Cybertronian ship before!" Jack was beaming.

"Um dude, what about the Con's ship?" Miko raised an optic ridge.

Jack rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively, "That doesn't count, we were facing death then, but now we can chill in here."

"Well, that and now we're actually Cybertronian ourselves," Miko shrugged as she stared at the layout in front of her.

"So, what button do you wanna press first?" Jack smiled at her. He had to admit, letting loose like this was nice, he could see why Miko was the way she was. The mechling was beginning to feel himself slip into a more childlike mind, and there wasn't really a part of him that actually worried about this.

"Knock Out, two signals popped up near the Autobots you're about to engage," Breakdown alerted over the commlink.

"Oh?"

"Unregistered sparks; absolutely nothing in activation records and databases."

"Perhaps they're newsparks then," the red doctor thought with a smirk, "we'll retrieve them, Breakdown."

"I'm bridging through now."

And with that, there was a swirl of green and the medic's burly partner was driving beside him.

"What about Megatron?"

"As his CMO, I'll be sure to mention that said signals were of concern to me since they were in the hands of the Autobots. It would be wrong of me to leave such helpless beings behind," he grinned.

"You gonna explain how Jack, Miko and Raf managed to end up as sparklings then, Bulk?" Wheeljack questioned as he buffed a deep scratch out of the side of his ship.

Bulkhead let out a sigh at his friend's request and slowed his own efforts, "I hate to say it, but, Jackie, we don't know…" 

"Kids'll be back to normal before you know it," Wheeljack gave his friend a knock on the shoulder, "Besides, they sound like they're having a good time anyway."

"Yeah they sure seem like it," Bulkhead's optics brightened, "Apart from Optimus really likes to keep Miko to himself, the boss knows he could just tell me if he didn't trust me to look after a sparkling."

The other wrecker scoffed and rolled his optics, "You know what a softie the Prime is, probably just wants to hug 'em all day, you know?"

Before Bulkhead could continue with his ramblings about his leader stealing his partner and charge, the sound of a weapon inhaling its own power in an attempt to breed a devastating blast filled the otherwise quiet area.

"Jackie get down!" Bulkhead called as the blast came hurtling at them.

"Bulkhead!" Breakdown almost sang with a smug look on his face, "I didn't get the opportunity to turn you into dust last time, why don't you come out and play instead of running away like last time, huh?"

"You know this idiot?" Wheeljack deadpanned from his cover.

"We'll talk about this later," Bulkhead growled as he activated his canons and shot up from his cover next to the Jackhammer.

Wheeljack did the same and time seemed to slow as the two wreckers sprinted towards the Decepticon, blaster shots being fired almost recklessly but still on target, and then a loud crash as the two bigger mechs allowed their fists to smack into each other.

"Well done, Breakdown," Knock Out said quietly from his place further back. His partner had successfully attracted the attention of both Autobots on sight, and not one of them suspected that he had any backup.

Quietly, the cherry medic activated his HUD to track the two signals that they were searching for and began flanking the entire area until he was able to approach the ship from behind. Knock Out was forcing himself to go slow, he didn't want to alert the Autobots or the two signals he was approaching to his existence.

The two signals were now in his sight from their position within the ship. Sparklings, as he had predicted.

No need to startle them, all Knock Out needed to do was keep his distance and allow a medical cable to extend from his chassis. He watched as the cable approached the chattering sparklings and gave them a quick zap, effectively putting them into a deep recharge.

"Perfect," the medic leered as he transformed and walked into the ship so he could retrieve the little ones, "Breakdown, I have the newsparks," he announced over their commlink.

Breakdown grinned at hearing this, "Missing anything, Bulkhead?"

The wrecker froze and Breakdown took this as his opportunity to transform and tear out of there, coming up next to his speedy partner.

"Scrap! That other one has the kids!" Wheeljack exclaimed as he put away his swords, transformed and went racing after them, followed by Bulkhead.

Too late. A groundbridge appeared and the two Decepticons were quick to drive through it and into the safety of the Nemesis.

Bulkhead transformed and felt a fit of rage overtake him. Even if Optimus hadn't said anything to him, it was very clear to him now that he wasn't able to take care of a sparkling. He'd just allowed the 'Cons to take two of them.

The wrecker let out a bellow of pure anger and punched the rock in front of him to smithereens. Everything was a blur to the wrecker now, and Wheeljack made sure to keep his distance while the mech was like this.

"This isn't gonna go down well," Wheeljack sighed as he sent a distress signal to all of the Autobots at the outpost.

A groundbridge opened but this time it was friendly. Or meant to be anyway. Arcee and Ratchet came storming through the bridge, anger radiating off them in ridiculously strong waves.

"Where are they?" Arcee demanded as she transformed and walked up to Wheeljack.

"The 'Cons took 'em," Wheeljack shrugged angrily, not really knowing what else to say or how to calm down the femme in front of him.

"You don't seem too bothered about this situation," the small femme felt her system temperatures rising and the energon flowing through her began to boil.

"Arcee," Optimus interjected, "hostilities between us will not return Jack and Miko to us."

Ratchet's optics widened in disbelief, "Optimus, you cannot be serious; If Wheeljack had not turned up, then the sparklings would still be with us!"

"That's it, I've heard enough," Bulkhead growled, "it was my fault. I was too quick to go after Breakdown and start a fight with him instead of making sure Jack and Miko were safe and secured."

There was a long pause before Optimus commed Bumblebee to open a groundbridge. And as the team trudged through, their Prime had already begun contacting Agent Fowler to alert him of the situation. Primus only knew it was right for the man to know what had become of the once human children he had entrusted to the Autobots.

Knock Out and Breakdown skidded to a halt as they came through the groundbridge and into the medbay on the Nemesis. The medic was careful as he transformed and caught a sparkling in each of his arms, cradled comfortably and still in induced recharge.

"They're actually kinda cute," Breakdown smirked as he gently poked Jack's helm and watched Knock Out try to adjust Miko into a position where she wouldn't wiggle too much.

"While they're in recharge sure, but when they're awake… demons," Knock Out shuddered, "precisely why I decided I never wanted sparklings of my own."

Breakdown raised an optic ridge at his partner, "Can't be that difficult to look after." 

"Well if Lord Megatron decides that we're keeping the little brats then you'll soon find out whether you'd like to retract that comment or not," the medic rolled his optics as he passed Miko over to him, "Here, this one moves around too much for my paintjob."

The big, blue mech gently took her into his arms and cradled her, "You know it's weird, she kinda reminds me of someone," he pondered.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think I'm just malfunctioning," Breakdown chuckled.

"Wouldn't doubt that," Knockout smirked at his friend, "Now, let's go show Big M what we've managed to score."

Breakdown nodded and the two mechs made their way to exit the medbay and out into the hallway to begin walking in the direction of the bridge.

Breakdown cleared his throat, almost nervously, "So, what do you think Megatron will do with sparklings?"

"I'm not sure, he doesn't seem like the type that has ever been around sparklings, he might even order us to throw them out of the airlock," Knock Out shrugged with a smirk.

"Hilarious," Breakdown replied sarcastically, "I just hope he doesn't do anything to hurt them… or us."

"You'd be surprised but Lord Megatron isn't all violence and war, I think you'll find he is a fairly reasonable mech," Knock Out walked ahead as they neared the door that would lead them into the room that their Liege was almost always in.

Breakdown felt his spark skip a beat as the door whooshed open and granted them entry to the bridge. He could see his leader stood at the helm, Soundwave by his side, monitoring things that he could never personally have the patience for. Breakdown only hoped that his leader's patience extended towards the two sparklings they had found.

"Lord Megatron," Knock Out began as they both walked towards him, "Breakdown and I have discovered something of interest."

"What is it Knock Out?" Megatron's powerful voice sounded.

Knock Out rolled his optics when Megatron didn't bother to turn around and face him so he decided to blurt out his answer rather than frill it up, "Sparklings."

He had to hide a smirk when both Megatron and Soundwave shot around to face him and his friend.

"Where did you find them?" Megatron asked with wide optics as he stared at the two young Cybertronians in the arms of his subordinates, "The Well has been inactive for eons, and what in the pits of Kaon brought them to this planet?"

"We found them with the Autobots, my liege. Though, we're not sure about how they actually came to be," Knock Out looked at the mech sparkling as he stretched slightly in his sleep.

Soundwave's screen lit up and beeped showing that no sentries had been set off and there had definitely been no ground bridge or space bridge activity on Cybertron.

"Sparklings do not simply appear out of thin air," Megatron growled, "Knock Out, perform CNA tests and see if there is any match with any of the Autobots stationed on Earth."

"Of course, my lord," he bowed slightly.

Breakdown was slightly confused as he listened in, "But the Autobots need the Well to produce sparklings, even if they were kindling, there's no way they're related."

Megatron nodded slightly and closed his optics momentarily as he thought of any way these sparklings in front of him could have been formed, "Perhaps miracle science."

Everyone was at loss for words at this point, and Miko had begun wiggling and squeaking slightly, signalling that she was about to wake up. The Decepticons in proximity watched with keen interest, as if trying to make sure that she was indeed a real sparkling and not a trick planted by the Autobots.

"Pass it here," Megatron motioned.

"Her," Breakdown corrected before he could catch himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Knock Out's optics widen and his posture go unnaturally rigid.

Megatron rolled his optics and spoke again as he reached out with a clawed hand, "Give her to me."

The tired little femme yawned as she was passed over from her comfy perch to a new frame, one with a broad chest like Optimus' but smoother. She let out a content purr as she was cradled against it and the heat from it began rolling into her smaller frame in waves. Miko could make out that there were people having a conversation in the background, but she was too out of it and honestly didn't care to make out who was who and who was saying what, and what they were actually saying.

The seekerling only opened her optics and let out a squeak as she was suddenly turned over and a set of digits ran over her little wing nubs.

"A seekerling," a familiar voice drawled.

She was turned back over and cradled again, meaning she could get a good look at the person holding her. Miko got an eyeful of silver Decepticon warlord and she couldn't help but scowl up at the mech.

She had nothing that she wanted to attempt to say to him, she just wanted him to know that she doesn't like him, and she hoped her dirty look was exhibiting that to him.

"What's the matter, seekerling?" he chuckled lowly as he carefully ran a digit over her wings to see if she would calm down.

However, their attention was diverted to the seeker that came strolling into the room as if he owned the place. As he approached his faceplates etched into a look of confusion, it definitely wasn't every day you saw an ex-gladiator now military leader gently holding a small sparkling to his chest.

"Why are there sparklings on the ship?" the SIC questioned as he stared at the sparkling his leader held, "Is that a-

"A seekerling?" Megatron interrupted with a knowing smirk, "Indeed."

Starscream shuffled on the spot and his wings were very obviously twitching in anticipation, Knock Out and Breakdown watched in silence knowing what the seeker was about to do.

"Master, may I request that I be the guardian of the seekerling?" Starscream bowed his helm slightly, wings dropping slightly and optics looking up at his leader in an attempt to look as inferior as possible. The seeker knew that Megatron would be more likely to comply if he felt like he was in charge.

"And what makes you think I would entrust YOU with one of my heirs?" Megatron asked mockingly as Miko squeaked in shock.

"Heirs?" she exclaimed. She found herself with one of the Decepticon leader's fingers pressed against her mouth to hush her momentarily.

"Heirs, my liege?" Knock Out questioned as he looked between Jack and Miko.

Megatron paid no attention to the medic and resumed his position at the helm of the bridge, "I will be the main guardian of these sparklings, I will train them and ensure that Soundwave gives them the very best education as they grow up," he stated, "However, I expect that you will look after them; feed them, bathe them, put them to recharge, and bring them in-between their lessons with Soundwave and I."

Knock Out, Breakdown and Starscream were looking at their master in shock.

"Never knew I'd be a nanny in the army," Breakdown shrugged as he went to take the seekerling but was stopped by his leader.

"Knock Out, Breakdown, you will look after the mechling," he turned to Starscream, "and I'm assuming that you would like to raise the seekerling," he said as he handed Miko over to his SIC.

Miko looked up at Starscream from her new place in his arms, "Hmph, you're even uglier up close," she spat.

The older seeker smiled at her slightly when he heard her squeaking at him and rubbed the back of her head resulting in her optics closing and her frame going completely soft with relaxation.

"Actually, you're okay," she mumbled as she stretched out in his arms slightly and watched Knock Out as his optics widened and his mouth opened and closed in shock.

"B-But Lord Megatron, this is ridiculous," he finally spat out in disbelief, "I have a medbay to run, soldiers to keep in check for battle and my paintjob! I can't possibly look after a sparkling!" Knock Out complained loudly.

"Enough," Megatron didn't seem bothered by the outburst, "You have Breakdown to help you. Now, are we all clear?"

Knock Out looked at the small sparkling in his arms and pouted before nodding begrudgingly, "Of course, my lord."

Looking pleased with himself, the warlord turned to look at the others stood before him.

"Yes, master," came their voices and a nod from Soundwave was given.

Miko, of course, had been listening in to the exchange intently and decided it was time to give them a piece of her mind. She sat up in Starscream's arms and opened her tiny mouth to release a loud squeal knowing that it would grab everyone's attention, whilst also waking up Jack to alert him of their current predicament.

And it worked, all the Decepticons had their attention immediately trained on her and Jack woke up and gave her a deep scowl until he realised who was holding him.

"Hush, little one," Starscream gently scolded as he bounced her in her arms slightly.

Jack looked around him with an expression that was unreadable, but inside his mind was going crazy with fear, "Miko?" He stuttered, "How did we get here?"

"No clue, but I think they're planning on keeping us so we've gotta try and stick together, right?"

"Right." Jack nodded unsure and still a bit shell-shocked.

"Aw, ain't they cute," Breakdown almost cooed.

Miko turned around, optics alight with anger and practically guns blazing, "You shut your face!"

Breakdown was taken aback, and his eyebrows raised as he looked at the seekerling that had just screamed at him in sparkling talk.

Megatron chuckled as he watched the scene unfold in front of him and focused on Miko, "My dear little seekerling," he approached her and Starscream and raised a hand to stroke her wing nubs, "There is no doubt in my mind that you will be of great use to me when you have matured."

Starscream smirked though he was uncomfortable with how close Megatron was to him, nonetheless he cleared his intake to agree with his liege, "Indeed, her spark seems to be very strong."

"Hopefully this little monkeywrench will be just as useful," the red medic gestured to the silent sparkling in his arms.

"Indeed," Megatron spoke as he moved back to his original position in front of the monitors at the helm, "Soundwave, instruct some of the troops to begin constructing furniture for our new additions and deliver them to the quarters of their guardians. Cribs, cleaning tubs, pacifiers, blankets and any toys that will be beneficial to their development."

Soundwave nodded and turned to type out orders to troops he had already selected. The orders would be sent out in a matter of seconds and the construction would begin.

"What about their names?" Breakdown asked.

Megatron was silent in thought for a few seconds before he spoke, "The seekerling's designation will be Onyx. The mechling will be Ryker."

That night was the most uncomfortable night for all three sparklings.

Raf was in the medbay, intakes wheezing and his head spinning as his little body struggled to overcome the illness. Ratchet kept coming and checking all of the wires were properly secured to the sparkling every now and then, Bumblebee would come and read to him and attempt to feed him, and Optimus had been coming and giving him helm pats and a quick check over.

But he hadn't seen Optimus in a few hours, not since they had all come back and were talking about Jack and Miko going missing. And when Raf overheard Optimus say that the Decepticons had taken them… well he just wasn't going to sleep that night. And it appeared no one else would be either.

They were all worried, and Raf watched the Autobot medic begin to worry about Optimus.

"Oh Rafael," he sighed, "why Optimus believes losing Jack and Miko is his fault, I will never know…"

"I just hope the Decepticons don't hurt them," Rafael whimpered as he rolled onto his side and curled up as much as the wires would allow him to.

He wasn't going to cry; he swore he wasn't. But soon enough he felt the tears rolling down his face and eventually his shaking had turned into whimpers resulting in an exhausted Ratchet carefully picking him up and holding him to his chest.

"All will be well, Rafael," he soothed as he rocked the sparkling slightly.

Meanwhile, Jack refused to go to sleep. As much as he would have liked to, his systems just wouldn't allow him and, he admitted, it was because he was scared.

It wasn't difficult to realise that Knock Out didn't want to look after him, and Jack had seen enough of Breakdown to know that the brute was probably the biggest risk factor to him in the medbay. What if he dropped him? 

Jack shuddered at the thought of being dropped from such a height.

"It's okay, just stop thinking about them, think about Miko when she threw paint at Vince," he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself.

But soon he was interrupted, "Hey, buddy, it's time for recharge," came the voice of Breakdown.

Jack noted that Breakdown must have a huge parental streak in him, as he seemed to go higher pitched when he spoke to him. Perhaps he wanted to show that he wasn't like Knock Out and he actually cared.

_Oh well_, Jack thought, _It's not as if I actually care if the 'Cons care about us or not_.

Realistically, he did care, but that's what scared him the most.

Jack was smart enough to realise that if the Decepticons didn't care about them then they would most likely die. After all, he didn't know what type of energon him and Miko were meant to consume, he only knew it wasn't what the rest of the Autobots consumed. He didn't even know where the 'Cons kept their energon, and even then, he couldn't walk so how on Earth would he plan on delivering energon to Miko.

The boy groaned before looking up at the big blue mech picking up him.

"Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you," he chirped before turning away and closing his eyes in an effort to block out anything that would remind him that he was in the hands of the Decepticons.

"Knock Out is gonna take you tomorrow night so you're with me tonight," Breakdown beamed happily as he picked up a soft blanket made from delicately constructed metal fibres.

Jack squeaked as his little blue frame was engulfed by the blanket and swaddled. He tried to shrug; this actually wasn't too bad. He managed to pull an arm out of the blanket so he could stick his thumb in his mouth, and he let out a small coo when his new guardian held him tightly and comfortably to his chest.

Miko squealed in discomfort as she was held tightly against the air commander's frame.

"Sorry, my little one," he said as he adjusted her slightly. Starscream wouldn't admit it but he was desperate for the presence of someone like him, another seeker, and having one so close made him want to hug them all the time.

The commander couldn't help but feel pride as he took in the sparkling's beautiful golden optics and the pink streaks that appeared in the proper lighting on her mostly black frame. His seekerling was certainly a beautiful one.

However, he remembered his place as second in command of the Decepticons and very quickly realised that if he wanted to someday rule then he couldn't walk around coddling a sparkling all day. He'd have to hold her differently, a way that kept her close but didn't look soft.

So, he came up with the bright idea of sitting her in his arm, just above his hip and facing forward, kind of like she was in a rollercoaster seat.

Miko did enjoy sitting like this as it felt like she was floating everywhere, but every now and then the older seeker's grip would get too tight and it would take her out of the trance that she had allowed herself to slip into.

She didn't like staying with the Decepticons, but if this was what she had to deal with right now then she at least wanted to be comfortable and she definitely wasn't afraid of letting Starscream know what she wanted. From what she had gathered of the seeker's interactions with her so far, he seemed to really want to look after her whilst carrying out his duties around the ship, and she'd come to the conclusion that she had him wrapped around her little finger.

Miko didn't quite realise how far this desire to look after her would go though, and she was shocked to say the least when Stasrcream finally retired for the day and took her back to his quarters with him.

The seekerling had been removed from her rollercoaster-like seat and held up to the seeker's long face so he could give her a peck on the forehead.

"Ew," she yelled as she wriggled in his hold.

She was placed against his shoulder and her little wing nubs were given attention; stroked, patted and massaged until she felt drowsy.

Starscream sighed slightly as he watched the sparkling in his arms shake her head as if to shake away the tiredness.

"No," she pushed away from his shoulder and turned her head to look at him, "There's no way I'm letting you put me to sleep."

She didn't really know how to react when the seeker lay down on his berth with her on his chest. However, she could feel how warm and comforting his spark was and it was putting her to sleep very quickly.

Before both of them knew it, Starscream was going over some files sent to him from various troops at the mines with a warm little seekerling curled up under his hand and on top of his spark chamber.


End file.
